Schaber’s injury has ruled him out of this weekend’s home double-header against Coventry Blaze and MK Lightning, and Dutiaume faces an anxious wait to find out the true extent of the damage. But he is confident his side will be good enough to carry on without him.

“He needs further medical examination so we don’t know the full extent just now,” he said.

“Hopefully in the next few days we will, but he certainly won’t be in our line-up this weekend.

“It’s going to need a lot of attention.

“He’s a key player that we identified early that we wanted back from last season. We built this team around him and number of other guys.

“It’s obviously a blow but we’ve had trouble icing a full line-up all year and we’ve managed to do well though this period.

“We’re going to have to suck it up and find a way.”

Flyers will look to bounce back from Sunday’s 7-2 defeat to Cardiff Devils with home games against Coventry Blaze and MK Lightning.

Dutiaume says his players are looking forward to welcome break from the road.

“It’s nice after a long week of travel,” he said, “We’ve had Guilford, Sheffield and Cardiff away in a short space of time so two home games in a row are certainly welcome.

“It looks like Coventry will certainly be up there in the league this year, and Milton Keynes have put together some fantastic scorelines and have some offensively gifted players who are capable of beating you on any given night. It’s going to be two challenging games.”